JERUSALEM, The number of Palestinian-owned structures demolished or seized in June 2022 is the highest monthly total this year, and represents a 48 percent increase compared with the monthly average of such structures demolished or seized since the beginning of the year, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory.

It said in a new report on demolitions and displacement in the occupied territories in June 2022, the Israeli authorities demolished, seized or forced people to demolish 96 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, 20 of which had been provided as donor-funded humanitarian aid.

As a result, 79 people, including 36 children, were displaced, and the livelihoods or access to services of about 6,400 others were affected.

All but two of the structures were targeted for lacking building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in Area C and East Jerusalem, and 84 of the structures were in Area C, 10 were in East Jerusalem, and two were punitively demolished in Area B, said the report.

It said that June also marked a record month for the issuance of demolition orders, particularly against EU-funded structures, with a total of 55 such structures placed at risk of demolition.

Of the 20 donor-funded structures demolished or seized in June 2022, eleven were funded by the EU or its Member States, for a total value of more than 18,600 euros; all of them were in Area C. Most of the destruction occurred in Ibziq in the Tubas governorate, an area designated by the Israeli authorities as a ‘firing zone’ for military training, and where Palestinian communities are at risk of forcible transfer.

Another 55 structures funded by the EU or its Member States, valued at more than 222,000 euros, received stop-work or demolition orders, the highest number of humanitarian aid structures placed at risk of demolition in a single month, since OCHA began recording the practice in Date. The majority of these structures were in Massafer Yatta, southern Hebron.

Twenty-eight of the 96 structures demolished or seized in June were in herding communities in Israeli-designated ‘firing zones.’ Nearly 30 percent of Area C is designated as such, and the 38 Palestinian communities in these training areas are among the most vulnerable in the West Bank, with limited access to essential services and basic infrastructure.

In the herding community of Ibziq, in the northern Jordan Valley, the Israeli authorities demolished 19 structures, five of which had been provided as humanitarian assistance by the EU or its Member States in response to previous demolitions, affecting 23 households, comprising 143 people, including 62 children.

In Khirbet al Fakheit and Mirzek, both in the Masafer Yatta area of southern Hebron, the Israeli authorities demolished a total of nine structures, all of which had been provided as donor-funded humanitarian aid in response to previous demolitions. As a result, 38 people, including 16 children, were displaced. On 4 May, the Israeli High Court of Justice approved the eviction of Palestinians living in Massafer Yatta, putting 1,144 people, including 569 children, at imminent risk of forcible transfer. On 23 June, the acting Humanitarian Coordinator called for a halt to demolitions, military activities and other increasingly coercive measures, so that residents can remain in their homes in safety and dignity.

In June, of the 96 structures targeted, two were seized without warning in Area C, preventing the owners from objecting in advance.

Additionally, in the Area C communities of Ni’lin and Bir Zeit (both in Ramallah) and Al Buweib (in Hebron), the Israeli authorities demolished a total of four structures based on Military Order 1797, which provides only a 96-hour notice and very limited grounds for legally challenging a demolition. This affected five households, comprising 24 people, including 12 children. A total of 201 Palestinian-owned structures have been demolished based on this order, since it came into effect in July 2019.

Ten structures, including five homes, were demolished in East Jerusalem: eight were demolished by the Jerusalem Municipality and two by the owners, following the issuance of demolition orders.

In the first six months of 2022, the proportion of structures demolished by their owners in East Jerusalem, following the issuance of demolition orders, reached 44 percent, up from an average of 35 percent in the previous five years. This is attributed to new Israeli legislation, which limits the authority of Israeli courts to intervene and enables the Jerusalem Municipality to exert pressure on families to demolish their properties themselves.

Source: Palestine News & info Agency